


Unfold Before You

by Spacecadet72



Series: If You're Not the One [13]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Identity Reveal, Marriage of Convenience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 04:14:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14394060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacecadet72/pseuds/Spacecadet72
Summary: Chat Noir and Ladybug talk and more than one truth comes out.





	Unfold Before You

**Author's Note:**

> And finally, the reveal. :D There's only one more story after this, an epilogue of sorts. Enjoy!
> 
> Title comes from I Choose You by Sara Bareilles.

Their patrol a few nights later was quiet and subdued, both Chat and Ladybug seemingly lost in their own thoughts. Ladybug kept looking at him when she thought he wasn’t looking, but he couldn’t help but notice. What was it about him tonight that caught her attention?

“Are you alright?” he asked after the fifth time he had noticed her looking at him out of the corner of her eye. 

She shook her head. “No, I’m not Chat. I’m sorry, I’m probably not in the best mood for patrol tonight.” 

“Well, it’s quiet. Why don’t you go home?” he said gently, reaching over to rest his hand on her shoulder. 

Ladybug let out a choked sound that sounded almost like a sob, and just shook her head, backing up until she hit the chimney behind her and sliding down. 

“My Lady?” Chat asked, really concerned now as he settled himself down next to her. She shook her head, but said nothing. He could see now that he was close that she had been crying. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, softly. 

She didn’t say anything for a while and Chat was going to take that as a no when she spoke. 

“I’m getting a divorce,” she said, her voice quiet and she sounding so close to breaking. 

Chat raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I’m so sorry, Ladybug. I didn’t know you were married,” he said trying to keep the hurt that she had kept something like that from him out of his voice. 

“Well, Ladybug isn’t,” she said, not meeting his eyes. “And now I won’t be either,” she added under her breath.

“If it makes you feel better, I’m getting divorced too. You’re in good company, my Lady,” he said with a bitter laugh. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking sympathetic, but not sounding particularly surprised. Had it been so obvious that he would screw this up?

He nodded his thanks, and they sat in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts. Chat went over every moment of their marriage in his mind, reliving every action and every reaction she gave. What was it that tipped her over the edge? What was it about him that made people want to leave?

“It wasn’t real,” he said, not wanting to be stuck in his head anymore. 

“What?” she asked, lifting up her head to look at him. 

“My marriage wasn’t real. I mean, we were legally married, but it was a ploy to keep the fangirls at bay. And if I’m being honest, I was lonely. Even fake, I wanted some sort of connection like that.”

“It still hurts,” she said, not asking a question. 

“Yes,” he said, his voice sounding heartbroken, even to his own ears. “I fell in love with her. I wasn’t supposed to, but she didn’t make it easy,” he said with a wry smile.

“What did you say?” Ladybug asked, looking shocked, her eyes wide. 

“I love my wife,” he said, slowly, not sure what the problem was, except that he was an idiot for losing Marinette. Was Ladybug upset that he didn’t love her anymore?

“I’ll always care about you, my Lady, but those feelings left a while ago. I’m sorry--”

“You love her?” she asked, ignoring what he was saying, a small smile on her face. 

“I do.”

“You love Marinette?” she asked, sounding hopeful. 

“Yes,” Chat said, not sure where this was going when she dropped her transformation, and Marinette--his wife--sat in front of him. 

“Marinette?” Chat asked, trying to process everything that was happening. 

“I love you too, Kitty,” she said and then she was kissing him. 

The familiar feel of her lips on his moved him to action and he kissed her back, his hands going around her to pull her tight against him. She loved him and was kissing him and nothing else mattered. 

They both pulled back after several blissful moments, both of their smiles wide. 

“I have something to confess, too,” he said before dropping his own transformation and sitting in front of her as just Adrien. 

“Adrien?” Marinette asked, with wide eyes and her mouth open in shock. 

Adrien nodded and held his arms out. “Disappointed, Princess?”

Marinette shook her head and surged forward, kissing him again. Where the first kiss had been joyful, this kiss had a desperate edge, as if Marinette was trying to pour all of her feelings into it, to prove to him that he was enough. 

“Never, Kitty,” she said as she pulled back. “I was just realizing that we were idiots.”

“For this whole marriage mess? You’re right on that,” Adrien said, his tone dry. 

She shook her head. “No, even earlier. I had the biggest crush on you in school and you were in love with Ladybug. We’ve loved each other for so long and just never knew.” 

His eyes widened, the realization of what she was saying hitting him. “I could have been with you the whole time?”

Marinette laughed. “Maybe it’s better this way. It gave us both time to grow up a little.” 

“I know I definitely needed that,” Adrien said with a laugh. 

“I think we both did. I can actually talk to you now, which is an improvement,” Marinette said in a self deprecating tone. 

Adrien laughed. “Is that why you couldn’t talk to me? I wondered why, you were so confident and self assured around everyone else.” 

Marinette put her head in her hands and groaned. “Don’t remind me. I was so awkward.” 

“At least you weren’t trying to flirt with me every second when I wasn’t interested,” Adrien said, remembering back to the early days as Chat Noir. 

“I didn’t think you really loved Ladybug until you told Marinette you did,” Marinette said softly, leaning her head against his shoulder. 

“It seems that I never really stopped loving you,” Adrien said, turning his head to gaze down at her. 

she hummed happily in response, and they sat in silence for several minutes, just happy to be together, with no secrets between them.

“Husband?” she asked, looking as happy as he felt. 

“Yes, wife?” he asked not able to contain his smile. 

“Take me home.”


End file.
